Jun 29: Got started at 9 AM. We will use silver thread and Smooth Meander by Apricot Moon. Quilting ... until I goofed and didn't allow enough room for our nesting pattern on the first roll of the quilt. The only other issue we had was with one fabric. It wanted to move on us and ideally needed to be stabilized. Using freezer paper on top of that fabric did the trick to keep it from moving on us. Alas though, the hopper foot was faster than we were and kept getting under the paper. We had to stop, remove a few stitches and try again. We still finished in very good time--8 hours total. By 5 PM, Sandra was headed back down 421 and then 77 to her home. A very nice day indeed.

Jun 28: Just got in fabric to make for hand bags for Joan.Jul 01: Selecting threads. Will use The Bottom Line #639 Bright Orange on the UT bags and The Bottom Line #652 Statue on the sock monkeys.Jul 02: Batting is cut.Jul 03: Most of the fabric is cut. Still need more black handles.Jul 04: Everything is cut now and ready to sew.Jul 10: These have covered my work table for nearly a week (lots of planing work). Hoping I can start sewing this afternoon or evening.Jul 14: Finally made a start. Doing the UT bags first. Pockets are done.Jul 16: Making good progress with a lot of pin basting done. All set to start putting the parts together.Jul 17: Attached bands & top stitched them, made the outer & lining bags.Jul 18: Made & attached the handles. The bags are now in one piece. Only top stitching around the top edge & stitch-in-the-ditch just under the bands to anchor the outer and inner bags.Jul 19: University of Tennessee bags are done. Starting on sock monkeys. Prepped to sew.Jul 20: Zipping along. And finished.

Learning recently that Duane's favorite color is red, I set out create a design for a red flannel quilt with wool batting that will keep him cozy next winter.

Duane and Marie are dear friends so I am excited about this project. Duane needs his own snuggle soft flannel quilt.

Duane's Original Plan

Jun 26: Duane came by and looked at some ideas I had. We also searched Fabrics.com for more options. I went through my flannel stash and came across some tartans I bought several years ago. One really caught Duane's eye. Using EQ7, I showed him layouts using the red/black/white tartan & solid red flannel. Bingo! I ordered the red & backing flannels and started figuring out how to use the tartan.Jun 28: Wanting to fussy cut the tartan blocks, I didn't have enough for the layout Duane liked. Also realized all those bias cut borders would have been very difficult to match plaids. On to plan 2.Jul 01: Two wonderfully soft flannels are here. Red & tartan rows are pieced. Need to order the grey and black flannels.Jul 09: Last of the fabric is ordered.Jul 11: Fabric is shipped & expected Tuesday, July 15.Jul 15: Fabric is here.Aug 16: Discovering it is not so simple to figure out the exact dimensions for a diamond in a square block. Think I finally got it.Aug 18: Finished the center. Started on borders. Got the first one (grey) on.Aug 19: Finished the borders and thus the quilt top.Aug 20: Pieced the backing. Auditioning patterns so Duane can choose one tomorrow.Aug 21: Paw Prints it is. Wool batting. Silver thread. Loading. Quilting.Aug 22: Quilted. Love it, I do. Binding is attached.Aug 24: Hand binding.Aug 27: Finished.

Sep 20: Turns out this is an Amish design.Of course the Amish hand quilt & use solid colors.Our batiks look anything but country.

​ In mid May, Emily (see Drew's Peace Corp Quilt) contacted me on behalf of her dad, David. He wants a quilt like this (left) for his wife for Christmas. Started with what I guess to be a 75" square quilt with 9" on-point blocks. The smaller squares in the 9-patch blocks are 1". Enlarging these small squares to 1.25", adding a row & changing the inside borders makes the planned quilt 90 x 105.

May 13: Got email from Emily with this quilt image and intentions. "...my father ...is interested in getting a quilt made for my mother. She is really fond of the quilt in the attached picture." Believe me I asked but Joan wasn't available to do the piecing this time.May 19: EQ7 rendition.From Emily: I'm connecting you with my dad (David) so he can talk about the specifics... he's contemplating ...wants it to be a surprise, but he also wants it to be a quilt she loves...

Like this please

Jun 13: Contacted David: Yes, I would love to get this as a Christmas present. I know that she loved this pattern when she saw it...I don’t know about the colors or all the steps involved. I’m sure she would like fabric that feels nice to the touch. The colors in the picture are quite striking, but I don’t know if they would be good for our bedroom

Planning

Jun 27: Today David & I finally got down to business. We looked through lots of fabrics on Fabrics.com focusing on batiks. After our phone conversation, I auditioned fabrics into the EQ7 drawing & added a row of blocks.. We'll continue this process as David has time until we arrive at a plan.Jul 01 & Jul 07: More fabric selection phone adventures. Over & over : They are all just so beautiful! David has made his main selections so I will now select coordinating fabrics for the 9-patches from David's vast list of favorites.Jul 09: We have a plan. Looks so simple once all is said and done. David agreed to the simpler inner borders so the diamonds are gone.Jul 10: Fabric is ordered. Must say David is a perfect gentleman & a pleasure to work with. So glad there is plenty of time before Christmas to enjoy the piecing and quilting as much as I have the planning.

​Piecing

Jul 16: Fabric is here & looking good. I made a couple of swaps now that I can see the fabrics.Jul 21: I have some time waiting on a partner to get back with me so I am pre-washing the fabrics in the 9-patch blocks. Got the first set of 20 done. Four sets to go.Jul 22: Working on small 9-patches.Jul 24: Finished the small 9-patch blocks. Pre-washed & pressed 16.5 yards of two feature fabrics & backing.Jul 25: Cutting more fabric. Will start piecing the larger 9-patch blocks.Jul 26: Hope to complete the large 9-patch blocks today. Well. I did one anyway & need to focus on something else for now.Aug 03: Completed the large 9-patch blocks.Aug 04: Cut the background fabric.Aug 05: Completed the center of the quilt. Aug 06: Adding borders...Aug 07: Borders and thus the quilt top are finished.

​Quilting & Binding

Aug 11: Waiting for a pattern selection so I can quilt this.Aug 14: Still waiting. I've suggested what David needs to look for & referred him to Donna Kleinke's patterns to see if any of those work for him.Aug 17: Doing overlays of possible patterns.Aug 19: David chose Deb's Swirls 2 by Deb Geissler.Aug 21: Cut the batting.Aug 27: Pieced the backing. Loading...Aug 28: Loaded & starting to quilt. Making the binding while IQ sews away. Quilted. Will unload tomorrow.Aug 29: Posted quilting pictures. Quilt is squared, binding attached and clipped ready for hand work.Sep 02: Bound.